From a press release:
Army of Darkness has finalized most arrangements for 2002.
Army of Darkness will be defending its third WERA Middleweight Superbike National Endurance Championship in 2002 by fielding an aggressive campaign for a fourth consecutive title.
AOD will be riding bikes built by the highly experienced AOD pit crew. Led by seasoned veteran Tim Gooding, the crew of Nolan Ballew, John Godfrey and Eric Wallgren will be constructing AOD Endurance Version 2.0 of the 2001 GSX-R600.
“We are improving every system on the bike this winter. We are building a bike that would have handily defeated our own efforts in 2001,” observed Crew Chief Tim Gooding. “Of course there is many a slip twixt the cup and the lip,” added John Godfrey.
Riding for AOD in 2002 will be nine-year AOD members Sam Fleming and Jim Williams with a new addition of 2001 Middleweight Superstock Endurance Champion Mark Crozier. “Mark is a dedicated, fast and smooth rider. We wanted to get him out of Middleweight Superstock by any means necessary and putting him on our team seemed like the easiest way to do that,” offered Sam Fleming. “I really didn’t want to have to race against him for another season” added Jim Williams.
Running in conjunction with AOD in the WERA National Endurance Series will be its sibling team Neighbor of the Beast contesting the Middleweight Superstock title. Neighbor of the Beast will be sharing pit crew and resources with AOD and, for the third year, will be piloted by racers Melissa Berkoff and Scott Fisher with additional appearances from Ty Stranger-Thorsen and “retired” AOD legend John Donnelly. NOTB finished 2nd in the class championship in 2000 and 3rd in 2001.
“This year we are going to win the championship. I am sick and tired of being the bridesmaid and never the bride,” said Melissa Berkoff tempestuously. “What she said,” added Scott Fisher.
Additional information about the teams is available at www.armyofdarkness.com and www.neighborofthebeast.com.
AOD and NOTB are currently sponsored by: 13x.com, Fisher Technical Services, Tower Analysis Investments, International City Cycles, Battley Cycles, Herndon Cycle Sport, Michelin, M4 exhaust, WERA, Pit Bull, Vanson, Sprocket Specialists, Vesrah, Zero Gravity, RoadracingWorld.com, Traxxion Dynamics. Inquiries should be made to [email protected]